5 Times Alfred Met Ivan at Work and 1 Time Ivan Met Alfred
by Zima Zimavich
Summary: What it says on the tin. A 5 1 fic, following Alfred and Ivan through a decade. Ivan works retail, Alfred visits.


**I.**

It had to be over 100 degrees, Ivan thought as he searched for a good spot in the shade to eat his lunch. Not that shade would do much good in this heat, even if he did find a nice flat rock in a calm part of the creek. The humidity was stifling, and the breeze hot. Ivan _could_ have taken his lunch in the air-conditioned break room, but that meant sitting with other people, a thing he'd never excelled at. Besides, all the people in the break room worked inside so, as a Lot Man, they would all be virtual strangers who thought he was older than he was. Ivan vastly preferred studying his English outside for an hour, despite the sweat and suffocating heat. He'd dealt with it all day and could deal with it for four more hours.

Once he found himself a good rock that wasn't already occupied by a snake or too hot to sit on, Ivan got out his lunch. Partway through, a truck pulled up by this side of the parking lot and a torrent of kids spilled out. Ivan saw they were headed his direction, so he got up to move. One of the kids, blond with glasses and a pool noodle, saw him and said, "Hey! Do you remember me?" He turned to one of his friends and not-quite whispered, "That's the giant I was telling you about yesterday."

Ivan, who typically did not pay much attention to anything happening while at work and wanted to get away from this horde of over enthusiastic children as soon as possible, simply said, "Sure".

The child seemed very pleased, if the way he beamed was any indication of how he felt. "I knew you would! I'm Alfred, today's my friend's birthday so we're gonna swim in the creek! He's turning ten, wanna join?"

"I can't," said Ivan, and he shuffled away to fight a snake for a place to spend the rest of his lunch.

 **II.**

Used needles crunched under Ivan's feet as he walked over to the bench at the busstop. He hated taking the bus. The bench was occupied. He tried not to groan as he sat down. The bench didn't have that kind of restraint, and did groan as he sat down. He willfully ignored it and got out his lunch. The bus wouldn't come for at least twenty minutes, and Ivan wanted to eat before going to his next job. He hated it, but he and Katyusha wanted to give Natalya the chance they didn't have, and let her go to college.

The other occupant looked over when he felt someone sit down. He took out an earbud. "Oh thank god," the kid said.

"Hm?" Ivan asked, mouth full.

"Oh, it's just, it's _you_ , and I kinda recognize you, and this area's kinda shady so I was worried -"

"Ah," Ivan said as he swallowed. "Are you sure you know me?"

"Well, no, I don't _know_ you, but - do you really not remember me? - I saw you a couple years ago and invited you to swim? But you wouldn't."

Ivan saw dozens of people every day and made no effort to remember any of them, not even the regulars. "Oh, yes. That creek is disgusting. And you are young."

"I am not! I'm almost a teenager! And you don't even look that old."

"That's because I'm not," Ivan said as he balled up his trash and shoved it in his lunch bag. This diet wasn't working. He still felt hungry. As if to prove a point, his stomach growled. Loudly.

"Hey, do you want my lunch? It isn't good not to eat enough."

Ivan felt himself blush. "My sister says the same thing. But I can't take your lunch from you."

"Nah, it's fine. I already ate _so much_ at my friend's house, I probably won't eat dinner. I will though, but seriously. I am _so_ full."

The boy waited until Ivan accepted the bag and opened it before speaking again. "Hey, do you remember my name?"

"No. This isn't a lunch! It's just a bunch of snacks. That's not a healthy meal!"

The boy laughed. "My brother says the same thing! See ya!"

The bus had pulled up. It was not Ivan's bus. The boy laughed as he got on, and Ivan tried to commit the boy's blond hair, blue eyes, lanky build and glasses to memory. He looked down at the Superman lunchbox, with ALFRED F. JONES written on the inside flap. He smiled.

 **III.**

Ivan remembered Alfred this time. Alfred didn't remember him.

Al was in with a group of friends, snickering about the hardware aisle. Ivan didn't know why anyone would want to come to this store to hang out.

He smiled, glad to see the kid who'd given him his Superman lunchbox was well and had plenty of friends.

 **IV.**

Thunder rumbled in the distance and the dark clouds overhead seemed to get darker. In the distance, the green of the trees looked otherworldly against the sky as they swung and flipped their leaves at the wind. Ivan waited to sign on at the register as Elizaveta signed off and explained how the day had been.

"...and as always, there's water in the fridge. I also have brownies, and today is probably the last day they're good so just throw out what you don't eat. See you later!"

Ivan wished her a good rest of the day and watched her leave to punch out. He wanted to be the one who was leaving, but he had just gotten there and had a whole shift ahead of him.

Partway through his shift, the skies finally opened up after threatening all day. The garden section was dead, so Ivan pulled the doors of his booth closed to keep the inside electronics and circuitry dry. He sat down on an overturned 5-gallon bucket and pulled out the brownies. He figured he deserved them after being yelled at, cursed at, and talked down to for the past five hours.

As he reached for water to wash down the brownies, someone rapped on the window. Shoving the empty pan under some magazines and stuffing his phone in his pocket, Ivan cracked the door open. It was still raining heavily, and Ivan didn't want to get blamed for ruining the cash register or short-circuiting the fridge.

He looked outside. It was Alfred.

Frankly, Alfred looked amazing. Ivan felt a little gross for thinking that, since the last time he'd seen him he'd been a young teen, but now…

Alfred looked like a _man_.

He was tall (nearly as tall as Ivan himself), and tan, with broad shoulders and a perfect blend of muscular and lanky. Ivan knew it was Alfred because of those wire-rimmed glasses sitting on that perfect nose and before those impossible blue eyes.

Ivan, who was still failing at his diet and probably had brownie crumbs on his face (he tried wiping his mouth discretely), felt terribly self-conscious and inadequate. He hoped Alfred did not remember him.

As luck would have it, Alfred did. Because of course he would.

"Hey, man. I know you!" The young man said.

Ivan tried to remain cool and professional. "Ah, yes, how can I help you?"

Alfred beamed. "D'ya have any cardboard? Like, a scrap. And a Sharpie in can borrow?"

Ivan looked around. There was plenty of cardboard around, but it all sat in the rain, soaked. "Perhaps inside? Or in the back, where it's covered - "

"What about that?" Alfred asked, pointing to the week killer display in front of Ivan's booth. Most of it was under the awning, and the top carton was empty. "Mind if I take it?"

Ivan honestly had no idea if it was allowed, but he saw no problem with it. The store would just throw it away anyway, so why not? "Sure."

Ivan left the booth and closed the door behind him. He got out his box cutter. "I should probably cut it. How big do you want it?"

Alfred showed him, and while Ivan cut the box to size, said, "Man, I can't believe you're still working here. You've been here since I was, what, I met you when I was ten. My brother says retail burns you out, he stopped after like a year, but here you still are!" He went on to mumble something about how his brother didn't get along great where a lot of people were involved so maybe he wasn't the best example, but Ivan had stopped listening and was more focused on not cutting his fingers on the dirty, dull knife.

"Is this good?" Ivan asked, walking back to the booth.

"Yes, perfect! Do you have a Sharpie?"

Ivan dug through the drawer under the register and handed Alfred whatever he found. "What do you need this for?"

Testing the markers, Alfred said, "I'm hitchhiking! I'm supposed to start college in the fall, so I want to do something cool before I go. Plus I know a guy out in Salt Lake, so it'd be cool to hang."

Ivan nodded. "So that's where you're going?"

"Yep! Or try, anyway. If I don't get there by, like, two weeks from now, I'm coming home." Alfred held up the sign. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH was written in large black letters. "This look alright?"

Ivan shrugged, having no idea how a hitchhiker's sign was supposed to look. "I guess?"

"Great, thanks!" Alfred looked around at the spades, gardening gloves, and fertilizer sitting near the registers. "Guess I should buy something, huh? I don't want to get you in trouble or anything."

"It's fine," Ivan said quickly. "You don't have to. There's no one around, no one else to help."

"Sure, uh, well," Alfred shuffled his feet and looked around. "See you around, I guess."

"Yeah," Ivan said, watching Alfred walk out into the storm, and out of his life.

 **V.**

No one ever came down to lumber, so Ivan was reading. It wasn't a very good book, but Ivan had gotten it free from a library, and it was in Russian. As the book's existence was a small miracle, Ivan was willing to deal with it's less than engaging storyline.

"Yo."

Ivan looked up and had to do a double-take. In front of him stood _Alfred_. "Hello," Ivan said, calm and professional as always.

Alfred leaned back against the counter and looked at Ivan. "I'm so glad I found you. I was asking around and everyone said you still worked here which is - well, great for me, maybe not so great for you - but I haven't been able to find you the last few days so I was thinking maybe they lied to me, but here you are! I finally found you." And Alfred laughed.

Ivan tried _very_ hard to process this. Alfred wanted to find him? Was _looking_ for him? He gave up trying to figure out why, and merely said, "I was off. I was helping my sister move out."

"Hey, yeah, that's fine! I just wanted to ask you something."

Ivan waited to be asked a question.

"So, um, like. Please don't think I'm being weird or anything! But, ah. Are you doing anything tomorrow night?" Alfred would not make eye contact.

Ivan shrugged. "I was not planning anything," he said.

"Great!" Said Alfred, "I mean, uh. It's my birthday, and I'm turning 21, so I've got a bunch of friends going out with me to celebrate, and. Do you want to come?"

Ivan stared. He tried to figure out if this was a joke or not. He said, "But I'm not your friend."

Alfred frowned and looked away. "I...I know that, but you've always been here and I keep seeing you and you've been so helpful, I just, I don't know. I want to get to know you," he mumbled.

Flattered and kind of confused, Ivan started gathering up his things and got ready to shut down lumber. "There isn't a lot to me to get to know."

Alfred looked downcast as he turned to leave before Ivan pulled the gate down across the doors. "Okay. Well, bye."

Ivan felt bad. "I don't want to go out with your friends," he said, "but maybe we can go out, just us? To chat."

Alfred immediately brightened. "Sure, that'd be great!"

 **+I.**

Ivan felt like an idiot. He had run off, away from Alfred, without actually planning anything.

Luckily, they didn't have to. One afternoon, Ivan wandered into a coffee shop after one of his classes ended for the day. Behind the counter, waiting on a group of girls, stood Alfred.

Ivan simply stood there in front of the door, wondering if maybe he should just leave, when Alfred saw him. Alfred gave him a huge wave before pushing the other guy working the counter out of the way and _vaulting_ over the counter to rush to Ivan. Ivan just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

"Ivan!" Alfred beamed, "What are you doing here? How'd you know I work here?"

"I-I didn't." Ivan said. "You work here?"

"Well duh!" Alfred laughed. "I get off in a few minutes, do you want to wait?"

Feeling like he didn't have much of a choice, Ivan said, "Sure," before finding a place to sit. He realized he hadn't ordered anything, but didn't want to push his luck.

True to his words, a few minutes later Alfred came over, sans apron. He carried a tray with two coffees and two bearclaws. "I didn't know what you liked, so I just got two regulars. You can add stuff to it if you want."

"No," Ivan said, "This is fine."

They sat in silence for a few moments, sipping coffee and eating their pastries.

"So, um," Alfred started. "I'm really glad you came here. You ran off before I could make plans, so it's really cool that you stumbled into my work for once!"

Ivan nodded. "I'm sorry I left so quickly. You, ah, caught me off guard? Yes, that."

"So…," Alfred said, looking around. "What do you do in your free time?"

Ivan shrugged. "I don't usually have enough to do anything with, other than sleep or clean. Although, now maybe I will since I no longer have two jobs. But I started taking some college classes."

"Yeah," Alfred said, "I can get that. Between schoolwork and regular work, I barely have any time for myself. But that's life I guess, huh? Sorry you lost your job, by the way. It wasn't the home improvement store, was it? I like that one."

Ivan took a sip of his coffee. "No, it wasn't that one. But it was a good thing - I left because I didn't need it anymore. I had it so I could help my sister get through college, but she's fine now so I don't need it."

"Ah, well. Good, that's good! You're a good brother." Ignoring Ivan's sounds of protest, Al kept talking. "But I'm glad you still work at that store. That's where I met you!"

Ivan nodded since, more or less, it was. "How was hitchhiking, by the way?"

Alfred laughed. "Not as cool as I'd thought. Turns out, I was hitting up north-bound traffic instead of west. And...kind of forgot to tell my parents what I was doing, so they freaked out a bit."

"A bit."

"Okay, it was more than a bit, and I spent the summer involuntarily volunteering at my dad's restaurant."

Ivan giggled a little and Alfred blushed.

"I'm just, I'm really glad you came here today," Al confessed.

"But why? You barely know me, I could be trying to lure you outside to kill you for all you know."

"Yeah, but you're not! You're really cute and I - god this is creepy - I've had a crush on you for a long time," Alfred finished, blushing into his last of his coffee.

Ivan choked on his bearclaw. "What?! _Me_? Why?"

Alfred looked at him. "You're just _so cute_! God, I don't even know how such a big guy can be so sweet, and I love your voice and your hair and your eyes -"

"But we've barely met!"

"I _know_! But it just keeps coming back! I'll think I've moved on and stuff but then I see you again and it _comes back_!" Alfred took a few deep breaths before continuing. "My friends made fun of me so much because of it, when I told them. I shouldn't have told them. They dragged me into your store to see you for themselves and they thought I was weird for thinking you're cute. They're wrong, though, you were and still are the cutest fucking person I've ever met. I'm glad you didn't see us, that night."

Ivan sat, completely blown away. Quietly, he corrected Alfred. "I did see you. I thought you were having fun with your friends, laughing about the hardware aisle sign."

"Oh, yeah!" Alfred laughed, "I love that thing!"

Ivan smiled. "I thought you were gorgeous, when you came in for the cardboard sign. You grew up really well."

Alfred blushed. "Yeah, uh, so did you!" A quick glance at his watch made Alfred jump out of his seat. "Shit! It's really late! I've gotta get home, I have a paper due tomorrow and -"

"Alfred," Ivan said, "It's okay. We can do this again if you want, or…?"

"Of _course_ I want to do this again!" Said Alfred, "Let me just get your number so it's easier…" He rifled through his stuff, trying and failing to find his phone. "Shit, maybe I left it in the back."

Chuckling, Ivan stopped Alfred and handed him a napkin. "Here is my number. Let me know when you want to do this again."

"Sure thing!" Al said, still looking for his phone. He looked up in time to wave furiously at the departing Ivan.

He could _not_ wait to do this again.

* * *

 **Notes:**

Numbers 1 and 4 happened to me when I worked at the Home Depot. (l-lol, I actually wrote about #4 when it happened, in another not-fanfic

form. This has been in the works since 2012, when I stopped working there. It was only recently that I started writing it, finally.

Ages for each section are:

Ivan - 17; Alfred 10

Ivan 19; Alfred 12

Ivan 22; Alfred 15

Ivan 25; Alfred 18

Ivan 28; Alfred 21 (same for the +1 section)


End file.
